Chapter 115: Late Autumn in a Humble Room

On a late autumn weekend, the wind already carried a chill that made one's bones ache.

The alleys in the urban village within the old district were so narrow that people could barely pass.

Above, wires were tangled in a chaotic mess; beneath, the bluestone slabs were pitted and uneven everywhere.

Lin Xuan carried two heavy bags of rice and flour in both hands, with a bucket of non-GMO soybean oil hanging from his arm.

Xiao Sizi wore a thick, warm beige down jacket.

Her whole body was round and chubby, like a little dumpling.

She held a paper bag in her hands as if cradling a treasure; inside were high-quality pure cotton colored threads that Lin Xuan had specially asked someone to find.

"Brother Lin Xuan, does Xiao Ya live here?" Xiao Sizi asked, looking around curiously.

"Mm, just turn the corner ahead and you'll be there." Lin Xuan switched the rice to his other hand and spoke softly to give instructions.

"The path is slippery; Mingda, walk slowly."

After the midterms last week, Xiao Ya came to their home as a guest.

The two little girls got along perfectly, so today it was Xiao Sizi's turn to visit her.

Just as they reached a low, single-story house, a paint-chipped wooden door stood half-open, not fully closed.

"Mingda!"

A small head with pigtail braids poked out from the crack in the door; it was Xiao Ya.

She wore an old sweater that was clearly the wrong size, with the cuffs slightly unraveling.

Yet her eyes sparkled, filled with happy surprise.

"Xiao Ya!" Xiao Sizi cheered, running over with her short little legs.

Lin Xuan shook his head with a smile and followed them into the house.

The light inside the room was particularly dim.

Even in broad daylight, they could only rely on a low-wattage incandescent bulb for illumination.

A faint smell of mold drifted in the air, along with the pungent odor of inferior fabric.

In the corner by the window, Xiao Ya's grandmother bent her back, wearing thick reading glasses, her two hands moving very quickly as she threaded the needle.

"Grandma, Uncle Lin and Mingda are here!" Xiao Ya pulled Xiao Sizi's hand and shouted happily.

Hearing the voice, the old woman hurriedly put down her work and stood up.

She nervously wiped her hands on her apron, a smile plastered on her face that could not hide the exhaustion she couldn't conceal.

"Oh, Mr. Lin, if you were coming to visit, you should have just come; why spend money buying so many things? This—this is far too embarrassing."

Looking at the rice, flour, and oil Lin Xuan had placed in the corner of the wall.

The old woman's eyes instantly turned red.

She knew clearly that this would be enough for her and her granddaughter to eat for several months.

"Elder, you are too polite; since the two children get along, consider this our small token of goodwill."

Lin Xuan smiled and waved his hand, his gaze falling to the small wooden stool where the old woman had just been sitting.

Piled there like a small mountain was a huge heap of colorful cloth tigers.

Bright red, bright green, shiny pink—the colors were matched in a particularly garish and vulgar way.

The tigers' eyes were cheap plastic pieces glued on, smelling and feeling strongly of plastic.

Lin Xuan ran an antique studio.

Every day he handled old objects from various dynasties and had grown accustomed to elegant aesthetics.

Suddenly seeing this pile of things, the corner of his mouth couldn't help but twitch.

"Grandma, do you usually do this kind of work?" Lin Xuan picked up a cloth tiger and touched the rough fabric on it.

The grandmother sighed, sat back down on the small stool, and said, "Yes, it's manual work taken from a wholesale market; they pay only fifty cents per piece for labor. Working all day without rest, I only earn a few dozen yuan for groceries."

"Autumn has arrived; winter is not far off."

"We haven't yet gathered enough for Xiao Ya's heating fee; I need to rush and make a few more."

Lin Xuan felt a pang of bitterness in his heart.

This kind of low-end manual work was both time-consuming and labor-intensive, and most of the earnings were siphoned off by middlemen.

It could not change the reality of their tight, struggling life.

Just at that moment, Xiao Sizi slowly approached.

Staring at the cloth tiger in Lin Xuan's hand for a long time, her beautiful eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"This—this doesn't look good; it's not as nice as the ones you stitched for Xiao Ya with your own needle and thread before!"

Xiao Sizi, speaking without the filter of a child, said it directly.

The grandmother paused for a moment, then gave a bitter smile. "Yes, these fabrics are cheap, and the colors are very vulgar."

"But the boss requires it this way; they just want a festive feel."

"And... the tiger I stitched for Xiao Ya was for good fortune; I don't sell it to others."

"Heh, yes."

Lin Xuan scratched the back of his head and smiled apologetically along with her.

Xiao Sizi turned and walked over to the nearby tattered small square table, picking up the pencil Xiao Ya usually used for homework.

She then dug out a flat, neat old newspaper from the basket of waste paper.

"Mingda, what are you doing?" Xiao Ya asked curiously and leaned in.

Xiao Sizi did not explain to her.

The pencil made a rustling sound on the newspaper.

Lin Xuan did not disturb her either.

He knew clearly that this little girl's mind held the most top-tier court aesthetic taste of the entire Great Tang.

In less than ten minutes, a vivid line drawing appeared on the newspaper.

It was an auspicious beast blessing pattern unique to the Great Tang court!

The lines flowed smoothly and naturally, and the expression looked majestic.

It also carried a bit of silly cuteness; the tiger's mouth opened slightly as if it could swallow all bad luck, and the tiger's paws were made round and plump, radiating the steadiness of warding off evil and blessing the home.

"Th-th-this—was drawn by Mingda?" Grandma leaned in for a closer look.

Behind her thick reading glasses, her cloudy eyes widened.

Having done handicrafts all her life, she could grasp the quality of a pattern with just one glance.

This tiger pattern exuded an indescribable nobility and old-fashioned charm.

Xiao Sizi pointed at the blueprint in her hand, speaking in a milky voice yet putting on a serious demeanor.

"Grandma, those bright reds and greens are too harsh on the eyes; can we change the colors?"

She opened the paper bag she had brought and poured out the high-quality pure cotton colored threads Lin Xuan had bought.

Xiao Sizi picked out several spools of thread.

"No red here; the base color must be Azurite, the pattern in Rattan Yellow, and the edges pressed with Cinnabar."

"Only then will the clashing colors look good."

The colors she mentioned happened to be the most classic aesthetic color combinations of the Great Tang.

Grandma was stunned after hearing this.

"Azurite? Rattan Yellow? Th-th-is this really going to work?"

"Just try it!" Xiao Sizi blinked her eyes, then pointed to the tiger's eyes on the blueprint, "And here, don't use those fake stones, just plastic pieces."

"Imperial Physician—no, I read in a book that using Dazi Embroidery for the eyes will make them look spirited."

"Dazi Embroidery?"

Grandma was truly shocked and hurriedly asked, "Mingda, you even know this? This is an old craft from very long ago."

"Very few people nowadays are willing to do this work; it consumes too much time and effort."

"I've seen Grandma's skills before; it will definitely be fine!" Xiao Sizi smiled sweetly.

Lin Xuan, watching from the side, seized the moment to speak: "Elder, since today is the weekend anyway."

"Just use the pattern Mingda drew and the threads we brought, try making it to see how it turns out; consider it accompanying a child in play."

Hearing these two people, Grandma's heart was moved.

Looking at the exquisite and beautiful blueprint before her, her withered fingers rubbed together.

Finally, she nodded heavily.

"Alright! Grandma will show you her skills today!"

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